With all the latest hype about QR-codes, you must certainly would want a QR scanner on your phone. Especially if you’re living in Japan, where QR-codes are most popular.
Well, the N900 sure has a QR-scanner, and a pretty good one! mBarCode, together with a QR plugin can read both barcode and QR information.

You can get both mBarCode and the QR-plugin from the Extras repo:
sudo gainroot
apt-get install mbarcode mbarcode-plugin-qrcode
Launch the application and now you have a very good scanner! Target your camera at a QR or a barcode and the information gets read almost instantly. Links and other “can-be-malicious” content is shown to you before getting opened with your tap. You can even check the shortlinks by copying them and visiting this site.
You can also store the scanned code into a file, or read the code from a file you stored. That way you can use the codes later, or scan the codes downloaded from a website.

With all that, mBarCode is a must-have if you’re used to dealing with QR and barcodes.
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In case if you’d want to test how it works and you don’t have any scannable codes around, you can use an online generator, like this one.

Check out our new page Funny LOL Pictures (click here) - it brings you daily funny pictures that will make you LOL!
Are you in a liking of chess games? Playing with the AI doesn’t seem as good as playing with real players for you? Then you should totally check out Miniature, an FICS client for Maemo!

Miniature is currently only available at Extras-devel, which means you would want it enabled in your repo list. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean the game is not good enough for everyday use, I myself have tested many releases and they work perfectly. In case if you need help enabling it, check out this wiki article. Make sure to disable it right after downloading the package though.
Now, Miniature enables you to play games hosted at FICS with thousands of players all across the world and even allows you to play P2P games with people nearby or with people in your contacts list. Registering at FICS is not required, but is recommended, if you want to keep easy track of your own games and stats. Host a game or join one of those already available and you’re ready to dive into a nice game of chess with anyone. And you even have easy to use text chat!

Miniature also holds quite some learning possibilities, as you can watch games already played, view chess lessons and participate in one of the tournaments FICS often holds! In case if you would want to play different kinds of chess, like antichess, Miniature allows that too.
 
A great client for every chess player, or just somebody who would want a nice game while waiting for the bus to arrive, Miniature is definitely worth checking out.

Check out our new page Funny LOL Pictures (click here) - it brings you daily funny pictures that will make you LOL!
Do you like strategy games? Well, then you probably have heard of “The Battle for Wesnoth”, a popular free software turn based strategy game with a strong, Tolkienesque fantasy setting. But did you know that there is a complete port of this PC game for Maemo?

The game is currently available in Extras, you can find it in the Games category.
sudo gainroot
apt-get install wesnoth
Note that the game is pretty large and will consume about 240~ Mb of memory on your /opt Unpacking a large package can also take a lot of time, so make sure you have enough battery charge.
Optionally install the music files. (Not recommended as this will take up 100 Mb more of memory and will slow down the game a bit):
apt-get install wesnoth-music
Once installed, you can launch the game from your applications menu or with
wesnoth
Loading times can be a drag, but apart from that and a few resolution issues with menus, the game is completely playable. Add-ons, Multiplayer, Singleplayer campaigns are all functional. I was able to both finish one of the mainline campaigns and play co-op survival on the official server without any trouble, right with an N900 in my hand.

The Battle for Wesnoth is definitely a game every N900 gamer should take a look at. So install the package and dive into the world of dwarves, elves and orcs!

Quite often do we run into situations where certain calls are unwanted. Maybe you’re at work and you don’t want anybody outside of the working environment calling you, or maybe there’s just a certain annoying person who you don’t want to talk with. In any case, Callerx is a simple app that will help you solve these problems.
Once launched, you will be greeted with a screen that easily allows you to view all inbound calls and manage your lists with blocked/allowed phone numbers.

Adding new numbers or contacts to the list of blocked/allowed numbers can be done by pressing the ‘Manage Lists’ button, choosing a list of your choice and picking a menu option. It’s that simple.

Callerx also allows you to block any numbers that are not listed by enabling the whitelist mode and has an option to block all unknown numbers.
Being a daemon, it is configured to auto-start at each boot, and can be configured via a command line, by editing ‘blacklist.txt’ and ‘whitelist.txt’ files located under your MyDocs directory and calling
/etc/init.d/callerx loadblacklist for switching to blacklist mode or
/etc/init.d/callerx loadwhitelist for whitelist mode
Easy to use and effective, Callerx is all you need to stop any unwanted calls from ever bothering you.
 

Tweaks posted here are for advanced users. Any beginners can give it a go, and if any problems occurs feel free to discuss it in the forums.
1. Enabling Hardware Accelerator which would speed up the hildon-desktop ( currently unstable and requires disabling if not working. Might need to reflash in case of reboot loop ).
First using XTerm, run this command
sudo gainroot
leafpad /etc/powervr.d/hildon-desktop.ini
Then change
WSEGL_UseHWSync=0
to
WSEGL_UseHWSync=1
 2) Installing Swappolube
sudo gainroot
apt-get install swappolube
Then use proposed values and click store
3) Install tracker-cfg to allow tracker using less CPU power
sudo gainroot
apt-get install tracker-cfg
Launch it and set to lowmemorymode
Any other tips and tricks are welcome. Just leave a comment and we will post it in our upcoming posts
via : Talk Maemo
 

NITDroid have been running over the years on the N900 and here is the current latest update :
Latest stable Android version running on the N900 is Version 2.3.7. Well this is practically a Gingerbread OS with Google Wallet support. This version is called N12 for NITDroid for the N900
N12 includes receiving and sending SMS successfully. However voice calls and camera are still under development
Here is a list with compatible games being able to run on the NITDroid itself. Overclocking and installation on internal EMMC would be suggested to ensure smooth game play.
And on the day the Ice Cream Sandwich source code is being released, a port of ICS has been done for the N900. Credits to the NITDroid developer drunkdebugger. Here is the link to the video : Video
Let’s hope more updates would come soon and we can get a stable NITDroid to replace Maemo for the N900.

Have you ever seen meedieval castle with lots of potraits hanging around? Every single one reminds of great man, someone who did something really significant for country, region or family. Today let’s focus on some other portrait, the one related to our favourite phone, Nokia N900.
Portrait dashboard is something we could already see after previous CSSU update, so the only remaining thing was to propagate this feature to homescreen, which finally happened. Because everyday I see less and less news on N900 I feel obliged to mention it for the ones who haven’t yet updated.
I was a bit surprised that after update my N900 just switched to portrait mode after rotating it, but widgets, shortcuts and bookmarks were a bit messed up. It’s still not a problem, because portrait has its own setting for each homescreen, so you can easily rearrange all of your widgets on screen and make them look exactly as you want. Unfortunatelly some of really wide widgets (like 5 days weather forecast) just won’t fit in portrait, but I can live with that, can you?
Another tiny issue with portrait mode is loopable wallpaper, if you haveone that loops in landscape, it will probably make you feel uncomfortable, but for me it’s perfect situation for new inventions, wallpaper that will be loopable in potrait and landscape at the same time. I’ll surely share with you when I find some time to make one .
That’s enough for starters, our King is still alive, still breathing and has own portrait . Now that you know what comes with the latest update, just try it!
–
MJ

Don’t have enough knowledge reading the Quran? Or don’t understand? Then Noor is the perfect application for you!! All you need is a Nokia N900, Noor and a chair to sit on It has a good appearance for the user and for easy reading, it has the Quran verses first followed by the English meaning directly beneath it.

Very useful if you’re in a journey to somewhere and don’t access to a Quran. Noor comes in 7 different languages namely : en English(default), ar Arabic, fa Farsi, ml Malayalam, ps Pushto, tr Turkish, nl Dutch.
Change the code : lang = (language of preference) in home/user/.noor and you can use leafpad, nano, vi or any other editor to do this. Not every device has the ability to support this application as only Python compatible devices are usable here. You need to have certain things before installing Noor :
noorgtk, noorhtmls, noorcgi and noortxt. All of this does come with the default Linux distributions like Ubuntu.
To install Noor, you input python setup.py install then after that, from any location noorgtk.pyw must be inputed. Stay tuned to this website for more.

Although the journey we have all taken with Maemo has been an amazing one, we do have to admit to ourselves that everything with a beginning has an end; and that end may just be in sight.
I know I personally wish I could hold onto my N900 forever, even when it must be replaced I know that I will hold onto it and still use it frequently, but how long does that all really last?  Although Maemo is an open system, and a very open one at that compared to the competition, there are still closed elements to it.  These elements are controlled by Nokia, and heavily restrict what we can do to keep the longevity of our devices going.  It has been proven that Nokia do not open up these parts of the system, as they still have not done so to older versions of Maemo and care even less now then they did before.

 We could always continue on as we are now, but how long would that course really keep us happy, as we start to feel restricted in our actions, seeing everything around us evolve while our platform remains stale.  While Maemo was ahead of the crowd at its release, and still age’s well, there is only so long it can steam along on the aging hardware of the N900.  What’s more is the hardware itself isn’t built to last forever, I myself have had my handset replaced a few times already, the most one lasted for was 12 months.
But what about the community?  I have always preached about the community, and I still think it is an amazing one, but with the limitations already listed, how long will the pillars of the community stick around?  What happens when their device bites the dust and a simple solder job will not suffice?
We all will need to face the facts that nothing lasts forever, and as the N900 fast approaches its 2nd birthday, it’s an anniversary that will be marked by sadness as more people will break away from the device, or break their device.  I am hoping …

You may have seen around a year ago when Apple released its sixth generation of iPod Nano, that people started using them as watches.  This seemed like a look into the future, and while the concept is an amazing one, the current implementation is somewhat still lacking.  In the end, the device was still limited to what it could do, you were just finally ‘holding it right’. Another watch concept has recently shown up over on Hack a Day, based on Arduino, which is an open source single board microcontroller.  It consists of a pilfered Nokia LCD and other circuitry.  The fun part of this watch is that it is connected to a N900 via Bluetooth, and has a GUI for showing missed calls, messages, email, and is being worked on to support the Maemo media player.

The concept is one of brilliance, and Apple bias aside, I would still prefer one of these in a refined form then an iPod Nano on my wrist.  The idea of having my phone do all the work and my watch managing it is amazing, and would do wonders for battery life.  The other advantage of course is being able to leave the N900 in your pocket all the time and just having to check your watch as needed.
From a first look, there doesn’t appear to be an actual time feature as of yet, but one would be rather easy to implement, and would complete this watch of the future.  Of course the design would need to be refined further to scale it down and make it appropriate to wear out, but I still love that concept as a whole.
If I could connect everything to my N900, I would.  Working on tech to have such synergy with each other is what the big companies should be doing and if this amazing device brings about some form of consumer product, I think I would be lining up for one with the same fanaticism and dedication some do to buy their fruit.
 Check it out more over here

This article goes into the sale discount on getting ZAGG Sparq. When you buy the ZAGG Sparq from this link you will get ZAGG Smartbuds for free. Most of us know from using smartphones that the battery life on these beasts isn’t what it used to be back in the 3310 days.  Back when it was all simply calls and the occasional game of snake, a phone battery could last a week on a single charge.  With the introduction of full colour screens and always on internet connections, most of us need to charge our devices every night, and in the case of the N900, sometimes more frequently.
To combat this, there are a few solutions people employ.  One is the leave chargers all around the place, which works if you are always close to a power outlet.  Another is to carry multiple batteries to swap in, which is effective but somewhat cumbersome.  The other way, and most elegant if not close to a power outlet is to pickup a portable charger for your Nokia N900, so you can charge your device at anytime, anywhere – ZAGG Sparq for Nokia N900 is the solution.

The ZAGGsparq comes under the last of those options, offering a 6000 mAh battery which is able to charge most phones up to 4 times on a single charge.  Simply plug into a power outlet whenever you can, and enjoy the knowledge that your baby will be safe and charged for sometime to come.
A convenient way to keep things running with a simple USB connection and even better, currently ZAGG are throwing in some quality ear buds valued at $49.99.  If you ever were considering a mobile charger in the past, now would be the time to jump on it.  Works with that groovy N9 you’ve been eyeing off too. Check it out over here.

I have always had great respect for webOS, it was an amazing system that was ahead of its time.  Sadly some things don’t quite catch on like they should and now webOS has gone the way of the Sega Saturn. It’s a sad day indeed when it seems like HP only recently forked out around $1.2 billion for Palm, and already they have dug its grave.  While HP kind of hints that something could come of the system, they have pretty well ditched it themselves.  The death of a competing OS would usually be a good thing for us Nokia N900 lovers, cutting down on the competition for our variations of chocolate, but in this case I feel we end up losing more then we gain.

WebOS was built in a similar fashion to Maemo, laying its roots in Linux and openness.  It is that relationship that has helped both OS’s benefit from each other, between porting apps, to playing the games.  It’s a little sad that both of these systems will be going the way of the Dodo, but maybe that’s just where the market is going now?
At the end of the day, did it seem like HP really supported webOS?  In the same way that Nokia seems like it has supported Maemo, or Meego?  Even if they did or not is irrelevant and the perception of people is what is really key.  To most people, all of these products appear to not matter to the parent companies, and that there is disastrous apparently.  Maybe Meego needs to learn a thing or two before it makes headlines for the same thing?

While not exactly wholly related to the N900, an interesting story that has popped up recently is Google’s desire to buy out the handset division of Motorola, Motorola Mobility.  This is interesting news as it stands to change the face of the smart phone industry, and could mean trouble for Nokia or not..if Nokia gets purchased by Samsung. C’mon Samsung…pleeease..buy Nokia! It’s cheap now! But now let’s have a look at Motorola aquisition by Google.
Motorola as a company have been somewhat of a hit and miss company until lately.  Before they struck it big in 2008 betting on the Android OS with their Droid smart phone, their last real hit was the RAZR all the way back in 2003.  Since then, Motorola has been hanging around, but still only managing around 3% market share.

It will be interesting to see what Google can do at the reins of their own handset company, and it can only mean good things for Android.  As companies like Microsoft and Apple band together to try and fight with the ever frustrating patent war, this move will help to strengthen Google’s position, picking up some 17000 odd patents.  With a cost of around $12.5 billion, it’s not exactly cheap, but a small price to pay for such a hoard of patent delights.
What does all this mean for Nokia though?  Well, at this point it’s probably good that they didn’t go with Android, but it still doesn’t make the current choice the right one.  Nokia still has a very uphill battle with their Windows Phone strategy, and this move by Google on buying Motorola is only going to strengthen Android.  I still have hopes for Meego, and will continue to clutch to those hopes as long as possible.  Overall, this development will hardly affect Nokia, compared to the damage it does to itself.
 
Source: Google Blog

So I’ve just had a delightful trip into Nokia Care, where I’m told most people don’t like much.  I do wonder why, and upon noticing that the ‘please don’t abuse our staff’ signs are no longer up from last visit, perhaps things are becoming more fun?
Anyway, during my visit I was served by a fella who was also interested in the N9, and planned on getting one as soon as it was released.  What I learned from my visit, is that according to order records, the store will be receiving a whole bunch of NFC ready accessories around mid September.  This is one such link to inevitable release of the N9, having NFC itself, but isn’t anything solid.  It’s not unheard of for companies to release accessories well before the release of the device in which they are made, look at AMD for instance.  The good part is that after a bit more of a chat, I was able to find something far more promising.

After some innocent questions, I eventually stumbled upon the answer.  The Nokia N9 will be released in Australia on the 15th of September, according to internal files.
Now, that’s not helpful information for the rest of the world, but it is a start.  Once it comes to us people in the land of the future, it shouldn’t take too long to spread to everyone else.  I am still surprised that Australia isn’t getting the N9 six months later then the rest of the world like usual, but I’m not complaining.  Now to start counting down the days.

It wasn’t long ago I had a little play around with Neverputt, a minigolf game recently ported to the N900.  There I mentioned that Neverputt has roots in Neverball, a very similar game with a slightly different concept.  It is of course good to know that I didn’t find Neverball for Nokia N900 nearly quite as frustrating as Neverputt.

Neverball has a fairly identical world to Neverputt, making sense since Neverputt is derived from Neverball.  The physics work the same, and the levels all appear the same.  The difference is that while Neverputt you control the ball with a golf club while selecting angles and power, in Neverball you control the ball by moving the floor, and that is done by moving the N900 itself.
The basic idea of the game is to simply navigate a course, collect a sufficient amount of coins, then reach the target within the time allotted.  The more coins you collect, and the faster you complete the stage, the more points you receive.  Simple but effective.  Perhaps it’s my lack of gaming skill coming into it again, but I did find controlling the ball very difficult to begin with, and moving the N900 all around conflicted with my CSSU portrait support.  After a while of playing around though, I did seem to get the hang of controlling Wilson somewhat as the difficulty increased, and I found that having the keyboard out while playing eliminated the games desire to try play in portrait.
Frame rates were fine, with out too many slowdowns, nothing game breaking.  Once again trying to change graphic options only causes the game to crash, much like Neverputt.  One of the awesome options here though is the ability to change the ball, away from a boring monochromatic beach toy, to things like the atom, Saturn, or even Blinky the pac man ghost.  Bouncing around the levels with Blinky made any fun had just that much better; perhaps it’s the emotionless state it gives me that makes it feel like I’m looking into a mirror.

Neverball may actually find some love with me whenever I need to kill …